The Joy of the Lord is your Strength - Neh 8:9-10

Good morning, and welcome to the broadcast service of Dillingham Moravian Church.

My name is Pastor Simon, and we are excited and thankful that God has led you

to pursue God and treasure His Word together with us today.

I don't know about you, but when I was in college, I racked up a lot of debt,

and that debt took years to pay off, and I ended up paying over double of what I originally owed.

My sister, on the other hand, had a different experience. She accumulated student

loans through the government, and when she was done her schooling,

she applied to the government loan forgiveness program to have her debt canceled.

And you know what? She got it. Her entire student loan debt was paid off.

I can tell you there was a lot of joy in celebrating in her household when she received that news.

Through God's Word, the Bible, we are taught that the debt that we owed to God

was paid off in full by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross.

As we respond to God's grace through faith in Christ, the forgiveness of our debt is applied to us.

And this is definitely a cause for great joy in Christ. Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, we come before you. We praise you and thank you for your merciful

love, your goodness to us that is beyond measure.

Thank you that you love us so much that you sent your son Jesus Christ to pay

the price for our debt, for our sin, so that we can have life in you,

so that we would not be condemned.

Through life in hell and death. Thank you, Father.

May you use us today, Lord. May it be you that is speaking and working in us

as I speak, precious Father.

In your precious Son's name, Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.

Please turn with me today to Nehemiah 8, verse 9 through 10.

Nehemiah 8:9–10

Nehemiah 8, and we're going to be in verse 9.

Then Nehemiah, who was the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe,

and the Levites who taught the people, said to all the people,

This day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep.

For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

And in verse 10, Then he said to them, Go and eat of the fat,

drink of the sweet, send portions to him who has nothing prepared,

for this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

The first truth that God is teaching us is that as Christians,

we do not mourn over our sins because the Lord's day is holy.

Recently, I just lost my father to cancer. It was a shock because we did not

know he had cancer and it was in an advanced stage.

My father passed away a day after I got there.

I was privileged to be able to see and talk with him that last time.

Before he died, I was able to share the gospel with my dad. And when I asked

him whether he had put his faith and trust in Christ, my dad responded, of course.

My point with using this illustration is that although I am grieving over the

loss of my dad, I am also greatly relieved and thankful that he is now with the Lord.

I can now grieve with hope in what Christ has done for my dad and for all believers in Christ.

In verse 9 of Nehemiah chapter 8, Then Nehemiah, who was the governor,

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

and Ezra the priest and the scribe and the Levites who taught the people,

said to all the people, This day is holy to the Lord your God.

Do not mourn or weep, for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

Israel had been returned from captivity to their own land, but they were still

enslaved to Persia, and they had to pay taxes and fealty to the king of Persia.

On the first day of the seventh month, Israel came together to have the law

of God read to them by Nehemiah and Ezra and the Levites.

The law was read to Israel in front of the water gate from early morning to midday.

Now we need to remember that the law of God had not been read or taught publicly

to Israel in a very long time.

This is important to understand because Israel as a nation had sinned continually

and cheated against God in their relationship with Him.

They were hearing God's Word for perhaps the first time, and God's truth caused

the people to be convicted of their sins.

We can just imagine the people who are present in front of Nehemiah.

There may have been some people alive who had remembered being kidnapped from

Israel, but after 70 years, most were born in captivity and maybe didn't fully

understand the reasons why they were in captivity in the first place.

And thus hearing God's word and realizing and understanding the depth of their

sin before their holy and almighty God, Yahweh, caused the people to weep and

mourn or grieve as a result of their sins.

Israel had lost so much in their discipline. Israel lost family members and

friends and fellow Israelites, their national and personal identities,

their country, their homes.

But most of all, they had lost the favor of God.

And it was this loss of God's favor upon them that caused the whole assembly

to be grieved and openly weep.

And this conviction, as a result

of hearing God's word, caused Israel to repent and worship God again.

However, Israel was continuing to grieve and weep over their sins more than

what was perhaps healthy.

And Nehemiah comforted the people by telling them that this day is holy to the Lord your God.

Do not mourn or weep. for all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law.

The words that Nehemiah used for to mourn or grieve meant to feel sadness and

express it through vocalizations, tears, and ritual expressions of sadness and grief.

This is the kind of grieving that we might have when we hear the news of losing

a close family member or loved one.

This kind of physical and emotional grief is fine for a time,

but if it goes on too long and we don't mourn rightly, it can be dangerous.

Nehemiah said, This day is holy to the Lord your God.

And because the day is holy to the Lord, do not weep. The question we need to

ask is, what did Nehemiah mean that this day is holy?

The day that Israel was meeting together on was the Feast of Trumpets,

which commemorated the end of one year of harvest and celebrated the beginning of Israel's new year.

No work was to be done on the feast as it was a Sabbath, and an offering was to be made on that day.

Trumpets and rams' horns were blown on that day as well.

This feast was to be one of rejoicing and thanksgiving in the Lord for the harvest

and for the start of the new year.

Why can you turn with me to Numbers 29, verses 1-6?

Numbers 29:1–6

The Lord told Moses, Now in the seventh month, on the first day of the month,

you shall also have a holy convocation who shall do no laborious work.

It will be to you a day for blowing trumpets. You shall offer a burnt offering

as a, and this is important, a soothing aroma to the Lord.

One bull, one ram, seven male lambs, one year old without defect,

also their grain offering, fine flour mixed with oil, three-tenths of aphah for the bull,

two-tenths for the ram, and one-tenth for each of the seven lambs.

Offer one male goat for a sin offering. And here's what I want you to see.

To make atonement for you,

besides the burnt offering of the new moon and its grain offering,

and the continual burnt offering, and its grain offering, and their drink offerings

according to their ordinance for a soothing aroma and offering by fire to the Lord.

The Feast of the Trumpets was also a feast where Israel atoned for their sins

and offered sacrifices that were pleasing to God.

And the question is, was it just the burnt sacrifices that pleased God? No.

David in Psalm 51, verse 16 to 17 wrote, For you do not delight in sacrifice,

Psalms 51:16–17

otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offering.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart,

O God, you will not despise.

Back in Nehemiah chapter 8, it was the sacrifice of Israel's humble repentance

Nehemiah 8 · chapter mention

as they responded to God's word through Nehemiah and Ezra that pleased and soothed God.

Nehemiah and Ezra were proclaiming that the people were to no longer mourn over

their sins, but to rejoice because God had forgiven them and was now pleased with them.

However, I do not believe that it was a coincidence that Nehemiah and Ezra taught

the law on the Feast of the Trumpets, because the feast celebrated a new beginning.

And this is what God gave His people after the Babylonian captivity.

God gave Israel a new start, and thus Israel was no longer to be grieved and

mourned over their sins.

But that day was to be celebrated because God had forgiven their sins and given them a new beginning.

How can we apply this to us as disciples of Christ?

Grief and mourning can incapacitate a person if their mourning person is not properly processed.

and managed. There's a time to grieve and mourn over the losses of our sins

that have caused weeping and tears.

But when we, in response to God's grace, have repented our sins,

worshiped and believed God and His Word, that we have been forgiven by God,

we are to stop mourning and start celebrating and rejoicing.

I need to make clear that this does not mean that we are to forget our sinful

condition, because we are also called to remember our brokenness before God.

Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5, taught about the character qualities

of the believer and disciple of Christ.

And one of the qualities that those in Christ have and must grow in is the quality

of mourning over our sins.

Jesus in Matthew 5, verse 4, said this, Blessed are those who mourn,

Matthew 5:4

for they shall be comforted.

The word Jesus used for mourn meant to experience sadness as the result of some

condition or circumstance.

In the context, Jesus was talking about mourning over a broken condition as sinners after the fall.

And here's how I see the difference between the mourning that Jesus was teaching

about versus what Nehemiah was talking about.

For example, losing my dad was a shock, and at first I was extremely sad and

openly crying over the loss of my dad.

And I still do cry as I remember him.

I miss my dad, and I'm very aware that dad is no longer alive anymore.

But I also know and trust that dad is with the Lord.

You see the difference? I still mourn, but not in a way that would destroy my life.

I grieve now, but I grieve with hope and joy because of the joy that we have in Christ.

This passage is teaching us that we are not to mourn over our sins without hope,

but we are to grieve with hope and the joy that we have in Christ.

And I believe this is an area where many Christians struggle,

and it's a hindrance to living in joy.

Too many Christians grieve over their sins without hope, and it's killing them.

It is true that there can be long-standing consequences for our past sins.

Satan is very clever at bringing up our old sins and reminding us of the hurt,

the pain, the destruction that we have caused in the past so that we can plague

ourselves with false guilt and grief.

But God in His great mercy has forgiven us.

According to Hebrews 8, verse 12, God said, For I will be merciful to their

Hebrews 8:12

iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.

This is great cause for joy. And as Psalm 30, verse 11 wonderfully declares,

Psalms 30:11

You have turned me from my mourning into dancing. You have loosed my sackcloth

and girded me with gladness.

As Christians, we are taught that we're not to grieve over our sins after we've repented.

Rather, we are to celebrate and rejoice and hope in our new life with God.

God is also teaching us that as believers, we are not to be grieved for the

joy of the Lord is our strength.

My boys, who are six and four respectively, sometimes play a game where they

have a sheet hanging down from the top bunk of their bunk bed,

covering the bottom bunk.

My boys run to the covered bottom bunk and hide in there like it's their fortress of safety.

The boys will yell out loud that there are monsters, and then they'd run and hide in their fortress.

Though in reality, the boys' fort will not be much protection. God is. Why?

Because the joy of the Lord is our strength. In verse 10, Nehemiah wrote,

Then he, meaning Nehemiah, said to them, Go eat of the fat, drink of the sweet,

send portions to him who has nothing prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord.

Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

God, through Nehemiah, was teaching God's people a second way to overcome false grief from their sin.

Nehemiah said to the people, Do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

The question is, how can joy be our strength? In order to answer that question,

we need to pose another question.

Whose joy are we talking about? I want you to notice that Nehemiah did not say

joy in the Lord, but referred to the joy of the Lord.

Now, this is an important distinction because it's not our joy that gives us strength, but God's.

The word used for strength meant mountain stronghold, a place of refuge, a fortress.

Many people believe that the joy that Nehemiah was referring to was the joy

that God gives us strength to strengthen us.

While God does give us His joy and we see this truth in other scriptures,

I don't believe that this verse was referring to our own personal strength or

even God giving us strength.

Rather, Nehemiah was talking about the strength of our place of refuge or stronghold

that we can run to. And what's that stronghold?

What is this place of refuge?

God's joy. It is God's joy that believers are to run to and to make as a strong fortress around us.

Let's look at Zephaniah 3.14-17.

Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion. Shout in triumph, O Israel.

Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem.

The Lord has taken away His judgments against you. He has cleared away your

enemies. The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst.

You will fear disaster no more.

In that day it will be said to Jerusalem, Do not be afraid, O Zion.

Do not let your hands fall limp.

The Lord your God is in your midst. the victorious warrior. And here's what I want you to hear.

He will exult over you with joy. He will be quiet in his love.

He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.

The heart of understanding this principle is understanding God's joy over a repentant sinner.

What did Jesus say in Luke chapter 15 verse 7? I tell you that in the same way

Luke 15:7

there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine

righteous persons who need no repentance.

What Nehemiah was teaching was that the strength and refuge of the people of

God was to be the continual believing and remembering and trusting that God

was rejoicing over their repentance and forgiveness and that He was pleased with them.

Does this mean for us as believers? Our strength and refuge is knowing and trusting

that God is rejoicing over us as a result of Jesus' sacrificial slaughter on the cross.

We, you and I, have been forgiven and saved from the wrath of God as we repent

and trust in Christ as our only Lord.

As Christians, we can often go through trials and difficult times,

extremely hectic times that can stress us, cause us worry, doubt,

fear, or to grow angry or frustrated.

However, if we have truly responded to Christ's grace by repenting and surrendering

our lives by faith in Christ, then God has forgiven and forgotten our sins.

The Father sees us through the lens of the blood of His Son,

Jesus Christ, both positionally and practically.

And here's what I mean by this.

Paul in Galatians 3, verse 27 declared, For as many of you were baptized into

Galatians 3:27

Christ, have put on Christ.

John in 1 John 1, verse 7 instructed us that if we walk in the light as He is

1 John 1:7

in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His

Son cleanses us from all sin.

In our position as sons of God, the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from all our sins.

And God the Father now sees us as holy and blameless, and He is as well pleased

with us as He is with Jesus.

Now in the practice of our daily Christian life, as we are obeying God's Word

by living by faith in Christ, there will be times when we sin.

And as we confess our sins to God and repent and turn away from our sins,

the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin.

The result is that God is pleased with us and He's rejoicing because of us.

Trusting the truth of God's joy on our behalf is our strength and the stronghold

that we run to. This joy is our strength.

What is it that God is teaching us from this passage? The first principle we

have learned is that if we as believers have responded to the grace of Christ

by repenting of our sins,

believing God's word that we have been forgiven by God, we are to stop mourning

and plaguing ourselves with false

guilt and to start celebrating and rejoicing in our new life with God.

Secondly, God has taught us that we are to trust in the truth that God is rejoicing

in our repentance and salvation on our behalf.

We are to trust in His joy as our strength and stronghold.

And if you're listening today, and you're a Christian who is still grieving

or being tormented over your past sins, confess your sins to God.

Repent of your sins. And if you haven't already, let them go.

Your sins have been forgiven and forgotten, and you and I can now rest in the

joy of God. God is pleased with us, and He is our strength, who we need to run

to and hide in. Let us pray.

Father, we thank You so much for Your goodness, for Your love,

for Your mercy that is beyond anything that we can imagine. Thank You.

Help us, O Lord. I plead with You.

Please, Lord, help us, work in us,

so that we can stay in Your presence, that we can hide in you always as we trust

in you and believe you and believe your promises.

Thank you. In your precious Son's name, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray. Amen.

I'll leave you with this blessing from Numbers chapter 6, verse 24 to 26.

Numbers 6:24–26

The Lord bless you, keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace.

Have a wonderful Sunday. May the Lord bless you. Thank you.